Independent Constitutionalist Campaign

Would Americans Support a 3rd Party Candidate?    How about if he were a "Conservative Constitutionalist?"

Ben Sasse wants to know.

Ben Sasse is a newly elected US Senator from Nebraska.    I got polled by him--or somebody--last night.  The intent of the poll was to find out if I were open to a candidate like him--then actually Ben Sasse himself--in an independent 3rd party candidate for president.  

My landline phone rang while I was watching cable news show With All Due Respect.  Mostly I get political donation requests from my landline but this time it was a poll.    I am polite and usually respond to polls.  I am happy to influence the political system. I realize that most supposed polls are actually Get Out The Vote inquiries.  Each side wants to know if I am persuadable and if so what issues to badger me about.   Better to tell people what I think, then the folks who disagree will leave me alone, hoping I won't vote.

I sometimes learn from polls, and last night was a good example.

A woman called, verified that she was talking to Peter Sage, asked if I could be polled and if I minded being recorded.   

She asked if I knew or had heard of the following people.

Robert Johnstone?   No.

Benjamine Sasse?   No.

Mark Cuban?  Yes.   Was my feeling positive, negative or neutral?   Neutral.

He said he is willing to be Hillary's VP

The interviewer then began asking how I felt about the country.   Were we in a total collapse of moral values?   Was the economy in a downward spiral of misery and frustration?   Are you angry with the way both parties have sabotaged American by acting like politicians rather than patriotic Americans interested in the common good to solve problems?   The questions begged to be answered "yes," but I answered, No.

The interviewer asked a series of questions to see if I preferred Trump or Hillary (Hillary) but then asked if I didn't really secretly wish there was another better choice.    I said yes, I did.

Senator Ben Sasse

That opened up a round of questions that started with whether I thought a third choice on the ballot would be great for democracy, whether a third choice would end the "stranglehold" of the two parties, whether a party that represented sound American principles of freedom, economic prosperity, and security at home and abroad would not be better than the two political parties whose leaders are interested in political gain, not America.   The questions obviously sought "yes" answers but I answered "no.".

The interviewer then asked about Ben Sasse.   Would I like him better as a presidential candidate if I knew he was a Republican?  No.  Would I like him better if I knew he was a US Senator who opposed Trump?  Yes.  Would I like him better if I knew he was against abortion under all circumstances?  No.  Would I like him better if I knew he was president of a small college in Nebraska and turned it around from a money loser to a money maker?  Unsure, I thought, wondering what changes he made.    

Would I like him better if I knew he had an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Ph.D.in History from Yale?   Yes.   

This caught my attention, not just the Harvard/Yale two-for, but Harvard then Yale History Ph.D.   That was me, too, Harvard undergraduate, then Yale History Ph.D program.   Since the pool of people with undergraduate degrees from Harvard who enter a Yale Ph.D program in History are about 5 a decade, I figure the cohort is so small and unusual we should stick together.   He finished his Ph.D. and I didn't.  I dropped out because I wanted to pursue a career in politics--not history--so I could change the world for the better.  I liked McGovern.  Sasse went the direction of history, finished his Ph.D, and that led him into politics and here he is, a Senator investigating running for president at age 44.  Funny how things work out.   Attaboy.

The poll then asked the three-way questions:   Trump, Hillary, Sasse?   Hillary.  If Sasse were on the ballot would I feel better about America?   Would such a choice be more free and democratic?   Would it help end the logjam of mere politics instead of honest constitutional government?  I said I would still vote for Hillary.   

What if the choices were Michael Bloomberg, Trump, and Hillary?   It was the one and only time Bloomberg was mentioned.   Ooh.   I hesitated.   Maybe this is really a Bloomberg poll.  Hillary, I said. 

There is some chatter about Sasse 

I see this poll as evidence that some people are investigating third parties.   It is not clear who is doing the investigating. The loaded questions that posited an Anti-Hillary and Anti-Trump third party choice that was somehow pro-America and anti-politics may well get some yes votes. That would tend to justify a 3rd party candidacy for someone.  

Possibly the poll was really by or for the DNC, investigating what kind of voters would drop Trump if they had a third choice.   Maybe I was part of a national poll of some 1,500+ people, and the real purpose of investigating a Sasse candidacy was a Democratic hope to find someone who might Nader-ize Trump from the right.   Sasse has Cruz-type politics but without Cruz's baked-in personality reputation, and Sasse would be a principled way for Republicans to cast a presidential vote and send a message.

Ben Sasse leads the "Never Trump" Movement

But I am guessing this poll was indeed for Sasse.   He went to Harvard and is a young US Senator: proof positive that he considers himself very, very special and anointed by heaven for greatness.  He is leading a movement that has some undetermined national appeal: "Never Trump."   Once people start talking about someone as president the infection is present and lasts a lifetime.   Senators joke about this.

But Sasse is nearly unknown.   Yes, but that can change.   Trump's nomination creates an opportunity for a position that possibly has potential in 2016 and may set him up for 2020, Senator leader of the Never Trump arm of the Republican party.   Anything Trump related is national news, which means that a junior senator from Nebraska is newsworthy because he is standing up to Trump.   Visibility.

Sasse is a Republican, a conservative (4th most conservative in the Senate he says), a national spokesman in opposition to Trump's anti-constitutional positions.   Sasses plan works best if Trump loses big.   Sasse can say both "I told you so" and position himself as the steadfast Republican who did not march like a lemming off the Trumpian cliff.   Then Sasse might be the unblemished potential candidate--assuming the GOP is OK with someone they might consider a saboteur, a serious risk.   Sasse, as a "Constitutional Conservative" invades the same political space as Cruz, but Sasse differentiates from Cruz by being nicer in tone and able to claim motivation by pure non-partisan principle, not personal animus from having been belittled as Lyin' Ted by Trump.    

Sasse is out making his case.  He is an American first, not a Republican first.    Click here to read his Facebook "Open Letter"   Sasse's Facebook manifesto got national press.  He has entered the big time.

Is this a major step toward a great political future for Ben Sasse?  It seems unlikely, but there are surprise turns in a political career.  His Ph.D. thesis was on the secularization of the left and the rise of the religious right and its effect on the Reagan presidency.  He may become president, Inshallah.